Protected Areas in Slovakia
In Slovakia there are 9 National Parks, 14 Protected Landscape Areas, and more than 1000 small scale protected areas, among which Protected Sites, Nature Reserves, National Natural Reserves, Natural Monuments and National Natural Monuments (which, together with the buffer zones cover about the 23% of the national territory).
"Sˇtátna Ochrana Prírody" of the Slovak Republic is a non-profit governmental organization in charge of the National Parks and of the Protected Landscape Areas in Slovakia.
National Parks
The first National Park to be established, in 1948, was Tatransky National Park; the most recent two, established in 2002, are Velká Fatra National Park and Slovensky kras National Park. Nízke Tatry National Park is the second largest park of the Slovak Republic, and was established in 1978. Pieninsky is the smallest Park, but equally rich in wonderful natural scenarios.
Some areas within these Parks have been defined by UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Poloniny (named the Vychodné Karpaty Biosphere Reserve), Slovensky Kras, and Tatry.
Special Protection Areas and Sites of Community Importance
Special Protection Areas cover 1.236.545 hectares, the 25,2% of the territory of the Republic of Slovakia. A national list of 38 Special Protection Areas has been submitted to the Government of the Republic of Slovakia in June 2003 and approved with Governmental Decision No. 636/2003 from 9th July 2003.
As far as the Sites of Community Importance are concerned, given the great variety of habitats (19 types of forest habitats covering the 40% of the national territory, 17 types of grassland covering the 15%, 7 types of peatlands, other 23 types of different habitats) and of natural species present (49 floristic species and 99 faunistic species), the final proposal has been of 382 sites (11.7% of the national territory). The list was approved by the Government of the Republic of Slovakia with Governmental Decision No. 239/2004 from 17th March 2004.
In this page you will find a list of only some categories of the protected areas of the Country. For a complete list, please go to the online catalogue (Kategórie) of the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovakia.
Source: Sˇtátna Ochrana Prírody, WCPA World Commission on Protected Areas
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